


Bedside Stories

by wildwaveswhist



Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Family Feels, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:13:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23717260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildwaveswhist/pseuds/wildwaveswhist
Summary: Tony sits at Peter's bedside and tries to fill the silence. Luckily, Morgan has some questions.
Relationships: Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 44
Kudos: 400
Collections: iron fam





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a conversation I had with one of my younger cousins triggered by, y'know, the pandemic. I figured the aftermath of the Blip would lead to a lot of similar conversations and this is the result of the thought experiment I had about that. 
> 
> Constructive comments and feedback are welcome!
> 
> Stay healthy!

“Alright, moving on.”

Tony shifted in the chair, wincing at the dull ache that flared in his lower back. He hadn’t bothered to keep track of how long he’d been sitting here, though judging from the darkness of the room and the quiet that had settled in the corridor outside, it must have been at least 7 hours.

Settled in a new and yet equally uncomfortable position, he cleared his throat and continued reading.

“‘ _#thankyouspidey from Clara, the blonde girl you saved on the 16th floor. Sorry for all the screaming and I hope you get better soon!_ ’. Hey, look at that kid, you got your own hashtag. How come I’ve never had one of those?”

He refreshed the page, glancing up briefly as it loaded. If he were awake, Peter would have undoubtedly given him some sort of quippy retort. Something like _aren’t you too old for hashtags, sir?_ or _I didn’t know you understood social media, Mr Stark_.

But Peter wasn’t awake. The monotonic beeping of the heart monitor was all Tony got in response. That, and the silence that filled the spaces in between.

“Ok, uh...this one’s from the staff at New York Presbyterian. ‘ _#thankyouspidey from all of us here at the hospital. We wish you a speedy recovery and hope to see you around the neighbourhood soon!_ ’. Jeez, Parker, I think you’ve received more goodwill in the past ten minutes than I’ve gotten in-“

“Daddy?”

After absolutely _not_ jumping out of his skin, Tony turned to see Morgan stood just outside the door. She was wearing the blue pyjamas she had gotten for Christmas last year, and her favourite teddy bear of the week was hugged to her chest.

“Hey, munchkin. You OK?”

“Mmhmm. Is Peter awake yet?”

“Is Morgan asleep yet?”

She grinned and shook her head. Tony stood up with a groan.

“'Cause if I remember right, Morgan’s bedtime is eight thirty. And it is currently...wow, eleven fifteen!”

“Me and Mommy were watching Mulan, but she fell asleep. F.R.I.D.A.Y put Nemo on for me instead.”

“Well,” Tony said, ignoring how his back flared again as he bent to pick her up. “I’ll have to remind F.R.I.D.A.Y about bedtime rules, won’t I? And then delete all the Disney films we own, just to be sure.”

Morgan looked at him with an expression of disapproval she had obviously learned from her mother.

“You wouldn’t.”

“Try me. Come on.” The light in the corridor made blue spots dance in his vision as he carried Morgan out of Peter’s room. “Let’s go to bed. And then it’s bye-bye Moana, bye-bye Elsa and Annie-“

“It’s Anna.”

“Hm?”

“It’s Ann- _ah_. Not Ann- _ee_.” 

“I see. Well, it’s bed- _time_.”

She looked back over his shoulder.

“Can I see Peter first?”

Tony hesitated.

“I, uh, I don’t think-“

“Just ten minutes? I won’t tell Mom.”

“He’s still asleep, hon. The doctors said he won’t wake up ‘til tomorrow.“

“I know! I just wanna see him.”

Tony sighed. It had been six days since Peter was brought in, and three since he was in anything even close to a stable condition. His healing factor was finally getting around to fixing everything else now it wasn’t busy just keeping him alive, but he still looked like - well, like a building had collapsed on him.

Pepper had been reluctant to let Morgan see Peter until he was at least conscious, and honestly, Tony hadn’t argued. He didn’t want to add to her already substantial list of childhood traumas to discuss with her future therapist, and she had always been frightened of hospitals anyway (even if she was too stubborn to admit it).

“Please? I’ll go to bed straight after. I just...really, really miss him.”

The Tony who used to eat and sleep, the one who didn’t have a seventeen-year-old in spandex to worry about and even went outside every now and again, would probably have had the energy to say no. This Tony, however, was exhausted.

(And knew all too well what missing Peter Parker felt like).

“Fine. Ten minutes. And don’t tell Mom, or I’m grounded.”

He put her down and followed her back to Peter’s room, stopping just before they went inside.

“It... might look a little scary, alright? Peter’s still really sick, so there are machines and tubes and things poking out of him. But you gotta remember, those things are helping him get better.”

She nodded.

“I wanna see him.”

Tony gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile and opened the door.

He could tell when Morgan first saw Peter, because, for a moment, she stopped dead still. He felt her clutching the hem of his shirt, as if the thin material was all that was keeping her from running from the room. He imagined she was feeling the exact same way he had six days ago.

Peter had already been trapped for half an hour before Tony even heard what was going on. He had been in a meeting during the disaster, had only realised the kid was in the middle of it when he walked out and saw the news (and the seventeen missed calls from Happy, and the twenty-three from May).

Even with Strange and Wanda on it, it had taken over an hour to get Peter out. And God, the kid had been fucking _conscious_ for most of it. Tony had managed to contact him through his suit, had tried to keep him awake, to distract him from the fact he was stuck under 33 storeys of rubble. Peter had laughed at Tony’s weak jokes, assured him he was _fine, really, sir, I’m good_ , all while his suit was sending Tony alerts that told him Peter was neither fine _nor_ good.

He’d passed out about twenty minutes before they finally reached him. Twenty minutes of radio silence. Twenty minutes that, for Tony, had felt like another five years of knowing Peter Parker was gone, knowing there was more he could have done to save him. And then they had dragged him out, lifeless and bleeding but alive, and Tony had vowed never to put his phone on silent during a meeting ever again.

He sat down and pulled Morgan up onto his lap, giving her a comforting squeeze as she drew herself closer to him. The teddy bear was held in a death grip against her chest. He saw her furiously blinking away tears as she looked at Peter, glancing warily at the humming machines looming over him on the other side of the bed.

"You OK?”

She nodded, releasing a shaky breath.

If this was a movie, Peter would probably open his eyes now. Tony could almost see it. Morgan’s presence would wake him, as if from a magic curse, and he’d sit up and say something unbearable like _hey, did I oversleep or something?_ in an attempt to make Morgan smile.

“He’s gonna be OK, isn’t he?”

Tony sighed, stroking her hair.

“Yeah, he will be. He gave us all a scare though.”

She pointed at the StarkPad on the table.

“Were you reading him bedtime stories?”

“Not stories.”

He opened the ever-updating news feed.

_**NEW YORK THANKS THEIR NEIGHBOURHOOD SPIDER-MAN AFTER SKYSCRAPER DISASTER (1007 new posts)** _

“I was reading him some messages from the people he rescued the other day. Hey, you wanna take over? Show Peter how good your reading is?”

Morgan nodded and took the tablet, following the lines with her finger.

“Okay. ‘ _#thankyouspidey for saving my Daddy, love from Harry, age four and a half. I think you’re a-awe-s-ome and you’re my f_ -f...”

She looked up at him in question.

“Sound it out,” Tony said.

“‘...my f...fav- or- favourite! _My favourite superhero_.’.”

“Good job! When did your reading get so good, huh?”

She smiled and scrolled to the next post. Tony closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair, listening to her slowly piece the syllables together.

“‘ _#thankyouspidey for saving my life, from me and my two boys, Jack and Thomas. Thanks to you, their Mommy is home, safe and sound_.’

‘ _#thankyouspidey from the New York City Fire de-par-t-ment-Department. We may be New York‘s br-brav-est, but you’re the bravest of us all_.‘

‘ _#thankyouspidey from the guy with the cool tie. I’m home with my family now and I hope that soon you will be too_.’ Daddy, is that Peter?”

Tony opened his eyes.

“Hm?”

Morgan pointed at a news report that was playing on the screen.

_Spider-Man at Walter Tower disaster (amateur video)_

It showed some shaky phone footage of Spider-Man climbing down the side of the tower, a crying kid no older than Morgan webbed to his chest.

‘ _Working with the emergency services was New York’s friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man_ ,’ the voice of the reporter said. ‘ _The vigilante rescued more than 300 people from the building before he became trapped inside. Onlookers report he was later recovered by a team of Avengers, including Ironman and the Sorcerer Supreme, Stephen Strange. A spokesperson informed the media yesterday that Spider-Man remains in critical condition, however_...‘

He’d already seen this, of course. Tony had watched all the footage. Scanned every news report, every photo, every video uploaded to every social media site, looking for what happened. For what went wrong, and how to stop it - how to stop this - ever happening again.

“Peter’s brave,” Morgan said.

“Yeah, he is. He’s also stupid. He should have waited for help, called me or your Mom or...somebody.”

Morgan was quiet for a second, fiddling with the ear of the teddy bear. It was Winnie the Pooh, Tony thought. Or was it the bear from Toy Story?

“Daddy?”

"Yeah?”

“Where are Peter’s mom and dad?”

“They...uh, well, Peter lost his parents when he was really young.”

“In the store?”

Tony shook his head, tucking a strand of Morgan’s hair behind her ear. “No, not in the store. They were in an accident and they died.”

“Peter was in an accident. Will he die?”

“No! No, baby, don’t worry. He might have died, if we hadn’t rescued him.” Tony tried to ignore the part of his brain that reminded him just how close it had been. “But we did, and his Spider-Man superpowers are helping him get better right now. He’s going to be OK.”

She smiled shakily, and seemed to relax a little.

“Can I hold his hand?”

“Yeah, sure.” He put her on the edge of the bed where she could reach him. “Just be careful of the tube there.”

Sitting cross-legged at Peter’s hip, she gently reached out and held onto Peter’s fingers. She studied his face for a few moments, before looking back at Tony.

“Why haven’t Peter’s mom and dad come back?”

Tony sighed.

“Because they can’t. They didn’t die in the Blip like everyone who came back. They were in an accident and they got really hurt.”

“Like Lilo?”

“Yeah,” Tony silently thanked God for Disney. “Like in Lilo and Stitch.”

“But _why_ can’t they come back? Like Peter did?”

“Wow, that’s a really tough question. Uh...OK, when Peter died, it was like he was on a computer. He was deleted by a very bad person, and he just...didn’t exist, for a while. But then somebody pressed a button that reset the computer, and Peter came back. Like he was never gone.”

Morgan nodded.

“But when Peter’s mom and dad died, it was because their bodies sort of...stopped working. You know when you pick some flowers from the garden, and after a while they stop living? That happens to people too, when they die. And they can’t come back.”

“That’s sad,” Morgan whispered. “Is Peter sad?”

“Yeah,” Tony sighed. “I think he’s sad sometimes. He misses them very much. But he’s got his Aunt May to take care of him, and his friends.”

“And us?”

“Yeah. And us.”

He looked back at the screen. A new video was playing now, one he must have seen a hundred times. Spider-Man was standing on top of a car talking to three firefighters, shouting over the chunks of concrete crashing to the ground behind them.

‘ _I’ve secured the lower six floors, they should be good for another half hour. Head in there, find as many people as you can. I’ll take the rest of the building. We got this, guys_.’

This clip was different to the others. Honestly, Tony was captivated by it. It showed a side of Peter he had never seen. Sure, he had been in battle with the kid before, but that normally meant Peter was kept to the sidelines, given orders to _do what I say, Spiderling, and stay outta the way_.

Here, Peter was alone, with no orders to follow. And he didn’t need them. He was confident, in control. A hero. A leader, even - or, at least, he had the potential to be. Thinking about it, he reminded Tony an awful lot of Cap.

“So, are we his new family?”

Tony blinked. “What?“

“Are we Peter’s new family?” Morgan repeated.

“I mean, not technically-”

“But you made him a suit. Suits are for family. You, Mommy, Uncle Rhodey, and Peter. And me, when I’m bigger. That’s five.”

She counted on her fingers and held up her hand. Tony quickly covered it with his.

“Who said you’re getting a suit, little miss?”

“Suits are for family,” she said, ignoring him. “So, Peter’s family, right?”

“I mean... yeah. Sure, we can be his family. If you want to be?”

She nodded. “I think he’s a good big brother. And he saves everybody else’s family, every day. He should have one too.”

“Well, when Peter wakes up, you can ask him. See if he’s willing to put up with you as his little sister.”

“I’m a great sister,” she said. She looked back at Peter, her expression turning back to worry. “He is gonna wake up, isn’t he?”

“Of course he will,” he smiled. “He’s family. Means you don’t leave anyone behind, right?”

“Have you even watched Lilo and Stitch?”

Chuckling, he glanced at the clock on the wall. “Alright. Bedtime for reals now. Let’s go.”

“But you don’t have to go to bed!” Morgan grumbled.

“I have to stay with Peter.”

“Why?”

“So I can yell at him for getting hurt when he wakes up.”

“You shouldn’t yell at him. He’s Spider-Man.”

“And I’m Ironman. I can do what I want.”

“Can I sleep in here? With you and Peter? Just in case he wakes up?”

“But you snore!” Tony grinned.

“No I don’t!”

“You do. You sound like an elephant.”

“Well, you sound like a dinosaur!”

Tony gasped dramatically, smacking his chest with his palm. “Are you saying I snore?”

Morgan giggled and nodded. “I’ve heard you!”

“Nope. That was Mommy. I never snore.”

“You do!”

“Do not.”

“Go to sleep, snore monster.”

“You’re a snore monster.”


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ask, and ye shall receive.   
> Here's the sequel for those of you who asked for it. I cannot believe how wonderful you guys are, your kind comments really made my day!  
> Stay healthy and just keep swimming guys! <3

As it happens, Tony was snoring when Peter woke up. 

It was one of the way, _way_ too many sounds that immediately assaulted his ears as he came round. Normally, his senses were dialled up to eleven; in battle, the adrenaline dialled them up to about thirty. 

Right now, a conservative guess would put them at approximately _ten million thousand_.

He opened his eyes slowly. A quick glance around the room revealed he was in the medbay, before the light coming through the window stabbed him in the eyes, apparently, and he slammed them shut with a groan. 

“Pete?"

Peter turned his head, mouth twitching into a smile when he found Morgan peering down at him. Distantly, he felt a small hand holding his. 

“You’re awake!” 

Peter blinked. Following the honestly unbearable sound that continued to rattle his brain, he looked up and saw Tony sleeping in the chair next to the bed. 

“Tell your dad… _shh_.”

“He’s really loud, isn’t he?”

He hummed and shifted, instantly regretting it as the general ache in his _everywhere_ rose into sharp spikes.

“What happ’ned?” 

“A building fell on you.”

“S’rude.”

Morgan giggled.

“How long…?”

“Um…I didn’t count. A long time.”

He hummed again, taking deep breaths as his head started to spin. 

“You saved a lot of people,” he heard Morgan say. “They said thank you.”

She continued talking, but he couldn’t focus. The words were becoming warped, as if he was underwater. There was too much. There were hospital smells and machines buzzing, and every fibre in the blanket was grating against his skin all at once and he _hurt_ and even with his eyes closed it was too bright – 

And then he was gone.

* * *

The next time he woke up, his senses had fallen to a still horrific but much more bearable forty-two.

“Hey, sweetie.“

Peter forced his eyes open. There was less pain, this time, replaced instead by utter exhaustion. But he didn’t want to sleep. He needed to know. 

“You with me?” May’s voice was almost a whisper, and the curtains, mercifully, were drawn.

Peter nodded. He reached out for her, but groaned as his vision blurred.

“Peter?"

“Falling.”

And he was. The room was tilting, and he was stuck to the bed even though he wasn’t trying to stick. May‘s face fell away, and suddenly he was nine years old at the park and Ben was laughing at him as he stepped off the roundabout; he was thrown off the side of a plane as it crashed towards the sea; and then he was back in the building and the floor was crumbling under his feet...

“Pete? Peter!”

He fell.

* * *

He woke up again - properly, if only briefly - around midday. 

“Parker?”

Peter hummed, keeping his eyes shut while he waited for the pain to return and his senses to go back into overdrive. Surprisingly, though, the world remained at a volume he could cope with, and though the pain was still there, it had subsided enough that he could at least think.

“You waking up, princess, or do you need another true love’s kiss?”

Peter made a face and finally allowed himself to open his eyes. 

“Gross. Please tell me you didn’t kiss me.”

Tony smirked. He leaned forward in the chair and rested his elbows on the bed.

“Don’t worry. I wasn’t that desperate. How you feeling? Any pain?”

Peter wiggled a bit, testing his body. 

“A little, but I’m OK. Just feel...weird.”

“That’ll be the Captain America tranquillisers they shot at you.”

“I need the same drugs as Captain America?”

“You need a little bit more, actually.”

“Awesome.”

“ _Not_ awesome,” Tony scolded, though he quickly backed off when Peter flinched at the volume of his voice. “Sorry. I’ll save it for later, when you’ll actually remember it.”  
“Thanks.”

He took the cup of water Tony offered him, relishing in how soothing it felt as he swallowed.

“So, uh...what did I do?”

Tony sighed. For a moment, his expression was unreadable, and Peter began to wish he hadn’t asked. But then it softened into a mixture of pride and relief.

"What a hero would do,” he said finally. “But don’t look so pleased with yourself, kid, I’m still furious.”

“Sorry, sir.”

“Hm.”

Peter looked around the room. His head started to loll back against the pillow, and keeping his eyes open was getting more and more difficult.

“Morgan?”

“Upstairs, with Pep. May too.”

“Morgan was here, before.”

“Yep.”

“She ‘K?”

“She’s worried about you, but yeah, she’s OK.”

“Is May angry?”

“I’m keeping her away from you for your own safety.”

Peter groaned, only slightly dramatically. His eyes, at some point, had fallen shut.

“Didn’t mean it,” he mumbled. “Just wanted to help.”

Tony chuckled. 

“I know. You did good, Spider-Man.”

This time, it didn’t feel like he was falling. 

* * *

“I got tweeted by the _Queen_ of _England_?”

Tony laughed, turning the StarkPad around so Peter could see. It was three hours later and he had managed to sit up, and though he still looked exhausted, his healing factor seemed to be catching up with everything. Bruce was confident he’d be able to sleep in his own room by tomorrow, though Spider-Manning was still strictly banned until further notice.

“Oh my God. The Queen sent me a tweet. The _Queen_ , sir. And she used an emoji. This is probably my greatest ever achievement.”

“Does getting onto the Stark internship not count?”

“I never technically got _onto_ the internship, sir.”

“Alright, how about your recent record for ‘Most Broken Bones Inside a Person’?”

“That comes in at a close second. Shame I missed out on ‘Most Internal Bleeding’, though. Here’s to next time.”

Tony’s eyes widened. 

“ _Next time?_ ” 

“I aim to excel, sir.”

“Will you stop excelling if I give you a pay rise?”

Peter was about to say that it was Pepper who set his salary for the internship when the woman herself walked through the door. She was followed by a six year old who seemed to be finding it very hard to contain her excitement.

“Hey!”

He sat up a little higher, wincing only a little.

“Pete!” 

Morgan ran over to Tony. He pulled her up onto his lap as Pepper sat down on the arm of the chair. Morgan froze when she saw Peter, clearly fighting every impulse to climb up onto the bed and into his arms like she normally would. Instead, she settled herself calmly on Tony’s knee, her feet dangling in the air and wiggling as a way to release the pent up energy.

“Are you feeling better now?” she asked. 

“Much better.”

“I brought Stitch.”

Pepper handed her the plush toy and Morgan tucked it under Peter’s blanket beside him.

“Hey, that’s one of my favourite films! Thanks, kiddo.”

“You’re welcome.”

She studied his face for a moment, biting her lip.

“I was scared,” she finally whispered.

Peter smiled and reached for her hand.

“I’m sorry I scared you. But I bet you were really brave. I mean, having to put up with your dad for a whole week without me? Must have been awful.”

Morgan giggled, and Tony slapped Peter’s arm gently.

“You were brave,” Morgan said. “You saved lots of people.”

“Yeah, but he also nearly got made into a Peter-Pancake, so maybe Spider-Man could be more careful in future,” Tony said. 

Morgan twisted around to look up at him.

“Can I ask him now, Daddy?”

Peter looked at Tony in question. Tony just smiled and shrugged. 

“I have something to ask you,” Morgan said, turning back to Peter.

“Well, before you do, my brain is all mushy from the medicine, so my answer might not be very clever.”

“You can just say yes or no.”

He nodded slowly, brow furrowed. She took a deep breath. 

“Do you wanna be in our family?”

For a second, Peter forgot to breathe. His mouth fell open, and he forced it closed, vaguely thinking this was another one of the weird drugged-up dreams he’d been having earlier. 

“You don’t have to,” she continued, squeezing his hand and confirming that this was, in fact, not a dream. “But Aunty May can come too, and I promise to be the best little sister, and Mommy says it’s OK -”

“Morgan!” Peter laughed. “If you wanna adopt me to be your big brother then yes, I would love to do that.”

“Really?”

“Sure! Make sure you’re sure though, because I might be really annoying. I take ages in the bathroom and I eat all the cereal -”

“That’s OK! I don’t like cereal that much.”

He opened his arms and Morgan climbed onto the bed for an awkward hug, avoiding the tubes and Peter’s only-just-starting-to-heal- _everything_. Tony watched from the chair, Pepper’s arm around his shoulders, not even trying to hide his smile. 

_These were his kids. This was his family. Here. Safe._

It was one of those moments. The ones where you know that, after they’re over, life won’t be quite the same.

* * *

Morgan stayed for an hour, updating Peter on everything she had been up to in the past week and reading him some more of the tweets he had been sent, while he did his best not to fall back to sleep. After a while, though, Tony noticed his smiles becoming forced, his movements more tense, and after only a minor protest Morgan reluctantly allowed herself to be whisked away by Pepper for bath- and bedtime.

“You alright?” Tony asked once they were gone. 

Peter exhaled carefully and slumped back into the pillow, allowing himself to drop some of the act now Morgan couldn’t see. 

“Mm.”

“You want more meds?”

“Yeah. Please.”

Tony reached over and pressed the button Banner had shown him. 

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“No,” Peter mumbled, the frankly ridiculous amounts of drugs already hitting his system. “Thanks for, you know, everything. For saving me. Both times.”

“Woah, did I give you too much? Are you about to OD?”

“M’ serious.”

Tony smiled. Carefully, he reached over and took Peter’s hand in his own. 

“Kid?”

“Hm?”

“So was I.”

“Hm.” Peter’s brow furrowed, his eyes drifting shut, and Tony wasn’t even sure he was conscious enough to hear him.

“That question Morgan asked you? That wasn’t just her asking. It’s not just a little sister you signed up for. It’s all of it. A family. You can take your time, however long you need, if you’re not ready for the whole package just yet. But I’ll be here. You’ve always been my kid, and now...now I promise to be whatever you’re ready for me to be. For as long as I can.”

Peter’s eyes were closed, fists that had been clenched in discomfort a minute ago now relaxed. Tony straightened the blanket and tucked Morgan’s toy closer to Peter’s side, before sitting back in the chair and keeping watch. 

_Whatever you need, kid. For as long as I can._


End file.
